Russia must act after murder of Dagestani paper founder

December 16, 2011 4:33 PM ET

New York, December 16,
2011--Russian authorities must carry out an urgent and effective
investigation into Thursday
night's assassination of Gadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of the independent
weekly Chernovik, which had tackled highly
sensitive topics in the southern republic of Dagestan, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today.

A masked assailant apparently lying in wait outside Chernovik's Makhachkala offices fired 14
times as Kamalov was leaving work shortly before midnight. Kamalov, 46, a
contributing editor and writer for the paper, died en route to a local hospital.
A Chernovik staffer who witnessed the
murder through an office window told CPJ that the assailant fled the scene in a
Lada Priora.

"We mourn the death of our colleague Gadzhimurad Kamalov and
send our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues," CPJ
Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "We call on
Russian authorities to launch an independent, thorough, and effective
investigation into this brutal murder, and bring all those responsible to
justice."

Chernovik, the
most popular newspaper in Dagestan, is known for its independence and
courageous coverage of government corruption, human rights abuses, and Islamic
radicalism. From 2008
until 2011, Chernovik and five of its
journalists, including then-editor and CPJ International Press Freedom Award
winner Nadira
Isayeva, were subjected to a politically motivated prosecution
on trumped-up "extremism" charges stemming from the paper's critical coverage of
regional police and the federal security service. The journalists were acquitted
of the charges in May.

Biyakai Magomedov, the current editor of Chernovik, told CPJ that Kamalov had not
disclosed recent threats. But a family member told the regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel that threats had been
commonplace since the paper was launched in 2003. "Since the time Chernovik started publishing, there have
been a number of threats, and he had foes," Khadzhimurad Radzhabov, a cousin and
colleague of Kamalov, told Kavkazsky Uzel.

In recent television interviews, Kamalov had made critical comments
about alleged regional government corruption. "Dagestan is sinking into
idleness, into misguided scattering of federal money," Kavkazsky Uzel quoted Kamalov as saying in a February interview
with the national television channel NTV. "You would not see a single place in
Russia with a bigger quantity of restaurants, banquet halls, saunas, casinos,
and hookah parlors as Makhachkala."

Kamalov's name was among 16 included on a "death list"
published anonymously and distributed in the form of a handout in Makhachkala
in September 2009, according to Russian press reports. The handout, which named
eight journalists among its targets, called for "destruction of the bandits and
revenge for police officers and peaceful citizens."

The North Caucasus region, of which Dagestan is part, constitutes
Russia's most dangerous assignment for journalists. Of the 20 journalists murdered in
the country since 2000, seven were assassinated in the North Caucasus. Four of
those seven were in Dagestan. All seven cases remain unsolved. The culture of impunity
has led to a massive information vacuum for independent information from and
about the
volatile region.

Russian journalist questioned, apartment searched, equipment seized

February 1, 2018 3:58 PM ET

Kiev, February 1, 2018--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Russian authorities today to return all confiscated property to independent journalist Pavel Nikulin, and stop harassing him in retaliation for his reporting. The Federal Security Service (FSB) yesterday morning raided Nikulin's Moscow apartment, and brought the journalist to agency...

Russian authorities arrest Sochi blogger on extortion charges

January 26, 2018 2:27 PM ET

New York, January 26, 2018--Russian authorities should immediately drop the charges against journalist Aleksandr Valov and release him from custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities on January 19 detained Valov, the editor-in-chief and founder of a local news site BlogSochi, and, two days later, charged him...

Russia votes on bill to require journalists to register as foreign agents

January 16, 2018 3:54 PM ET

Kiev, January 16, 2018--Russia's State Duma should drop a bill that would require some bloggers and journalists to register as foreign agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Duma on January 12 voted overwhelmingly to approve the bill, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported....

Russia's RT network says it complied with US order to register as foreign agent

November 13, 2017 12:03 PM ET

New York, November 13, 2017--The Russian government-funded international news network RT, formerly Russia Today, said that it complied today with a U.S. Department of Justice order for it to register as a foreign agent. Ordering foreign outlets to register could set a troubling precedent, the Committee to Protect Journalists...